Common Animal Damage Threats to Businesses

Wildlife Damage Management & Control

If you’re a business owner, it’s important to know the different threats to your livelihood.

This includes the threat of nuisance wildlife, which can potentially cause danger to humans and damage to property.

Protecting your investment before something serious (and expensive) happens is the best course of action to take for wildlife damage control — and it’s essential for business owners of every industry.

Nuisance Wildlife That Can Harm Businesses

Changes in weather, threats from predators, and the search for food can lead to nuisance wildlife trying to access your commercial business, office space, restaurant, or other form of business structure.

Depending on the nature of your business, this can be quite detrimental.

Medical facilities, restaurants, and hotels can face closures if deemed necessary by the local health department for unsafe and/or unhealthy conditions until the wildlife and rodent infestation has been rectified.

Raccoon Damage Can Impact Businesses

Raccoons will eat almost anything they can get their paws on, which can be an issue for farmers and businesses in the food industry.

Fruits, berries, livestock feed, even garbage can become a tasty meal for the masked critter.

Aside from eating or damaging crops, raccoons can also cause substantial damage to buildings as they try to gain access so they can build a nest.

When a raccoon builds a nest, they may create fire hazards if the nest is in a vent.

Raccoon damage also comes in the form of chewed wires, which can cause a short-circuit in electrical outlets.

Raccoon droppings are also a cause for concern for business owners. The critter is known for carrying various diseases and parasites, which can be transmitted through droppings.

With these concerns in mind, raccoon removal and exclusion is an important investment for any business owner.

Squirrel Damage Impacting Business

Squirrels are small in stature, but these critters are stronger and more destructive than their appearance lets on.

Using overhanging branches, utility lines, or climbing up the side of the building, damage caused by squirrels can cost business owners tens of thousands of dollars, or more.

They’ve been known to chew through roofs and even burn entire structures to the ground by way of an out-of-control blaze that started with chewing an electrical wire.

But they can be stopped.

Typical points of entry for squirrels include gable vents, soffits, and dislodged siding. Squirrels might also try entering through crevices in stone foundations.

They’ll chew and claw preexisting openings so that they become large enough to fit through and enter a building.

Once a squirrel has found a way into a basement, wall, crawlspace, or another area in a building, the critter will look for an area to build a nest, and the necessary materials to make it comfortable for their kits, or baby squirrels.

Diseases spread by squirrels are also a concern for business owners.

Among the viruses associated with squirrels include Leptospirosis, which can lead to kidney damage, liver failure, and respiratory distress.

With that in mind, property damage by squirrels can become a serious issue for business owners and requires professional squirrel removal and exclusion.

Bat Damage Can Impact Businesses

Even though bats are thought of as nature’s pest control, it doesn’t mean the rodent can’t damage your building.

This critter can access buildings through openings, gaps, and preexisting damage in the roofline, fascia, even chimneys.

Bat damage can include destroyed insulation, chewed wires, and scratched walls.

While bats can damage buildings in the ways we commonly think of, their droppings and urine can cause damage to insulation and drywall that business owners need to keep in mind.

Bat droppings, known as guano, can lead to an ammonia-like smell. Piles of guano are also a breeding site for fungus which can lead to histoplasmosis.

These fungal spores can lead to weakened immune systems, respiratory failure, and flu-like symptoms.

The potential threat of bat-related diseases, and because they are a protected species, makes professional bat removal essential.

Bird Damage Can Impact Businesses

With hundreds of bird species inhabiting North America, business owners need to be mindful of the damage birds can cause to their building(s) and property.

Birds are known for taking advantage of sheltered areas found throughout your business. These spaces can include the roof overhang, window ledges, and balconies.

Some birds, like pigeons, will even build their nests on air conditioning units.

Depending on the location and the weight of the nest, it can cause damage to the area while also impacting the structural integrity of the building.

Bird droppings, which have a high acidic level, can also lead to damage to building, roof, tar-based materials, and to equipment and machinery on the property.

In the instances where woodpeckers have taken over, the bird can cause severe structural damage to buildings simply by pecking — or drumming on the building.

Animal Damage Management Services

Wildlife and pest management professionals are trained in wildlife damage control and exclusion techniques that are safe, permanent, and environmentally friendly.